An application which communicates with one or more devices may be called a host. The host may execute in a processing device and may communicate with one or more devices included within the processing device or connected to the processing device. An operating system may host one or more hosts and thus, may be considered to be a host of hosts, or a meta-host.
In a multi-host environment, a device may be subject to a settings conflict from multiple hosts. In an example involving data encryption on a secret-less client, a first host may change settings associated with a device, such that the first host and the device share a temporary secret in order to permit a particular operation. However, the changed settings may prevent normal operation of the device. The first host may terminate unexpectedly leaving the settings of the device changed. Later, a second host may attempt to communicate with the device. Because the settings remain changed, the device may not operate normally and the second host may be unable to effectively communicate with the device.